Category Archives: UK news

Tata redundancy scheme targeted older, non-Indian nationals in UK, tribunal hears

Posted on by

Three claimants allege Mumbai-based consultancy firm discriminated against them during restructuring

A UK division of the Indian conglomerate Tata “deliberately orchestrated” a redundancy programme in a way that unfairly targeted older, non-Indian nationals, an employment tribunal has heard.

Three claimants allege the Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is valued at almost £110bn on the BSE stock exchange in Mumbai, discriminated against them on grounds of age and nationality during a restructuring that began in mid-2023.

Continue reading...

UK ministers will respond to US tariffs with ‘calm heads’, Starmer tells business chiefs

Posted on by

Prime minister says tariffs will be ‘a challenge’ but UK is better placed with 10% rate than EU at 20%

Keir Starmer has told heads of business in Downing Street that “clearly there will be an economic impact” from US tariffs but that ministers would respond with “cool and calm heads”.

The prime minister gathered senior business figures in No 10 after Donald Trump announced he would introduce 10% blanket tariffs on imports from the UK, and 25% on car imports.

Continue reading...

C of E vicars call for ’urgent and decisive action’ on increasing their pensions

Posted on by

Lead signatory of letter to Church Times says it is ‘moral and Christian imperative’ to ensure dignified retirement

Church of England vicars are demanding an increase in pensions amid claims that many face an impoverished old age, with some forced to rely on food banks or move in with adult children.

Almost 2,000 C of E clergy have joined an action group on Facebook in the past few weeks and 700 signed a letter to the Church Times calling for “urgent and decisive action”.

Continue reading...

‘War’ and ‘pain’: what the papers say about Donald Trump’s trade tariffs

Posted on by

The US president has announced new taxes on imports to the US starting at a baseline of 10% – here is the front-page reaction in Britain

Donald Trump’s tariff “day of liberation” arrived with the US president imposing markups on imports while accusing other nations, including allies, of “looting, pillaging, raping and plundering” the US.

The UK got off relatively lightly with the basic 10%. Here is how major British newspapers see it.

Continue reading...

Healthy but lonely gen Zers drive UK gym membership to record high

Posted on by

More health-conscious young people take total to 11.5m memberships, report finds, as experts cite social aspect alongside fitness

Record numbers of Britons are going to the gym, as the desire of many gen Zers to socialise while getting fit instead of drinking in the pub drives an unprecedented surge in membership, a report shows.

In all, 11.5 million people aged 16 and over– a new high – now belong to a gym in the UK, a rise of 1.6 million from 2022. It means one in six people have taken out a membership.

Continue reading...

Doctors urge government to fight poverty after rise in patients with Victorian diseases

Posted on by

Survey finds vast majority of doctors are concerned at impact of health inequalities on their patients

Doctors have reported a rise in the number of patients with Victorian diseases such as scabies, as the Royal College of Physicians urged the government to do more to fight poverty.

The survey of 882 doctors found 89% were concerned about the impact of health inequalities on their patients, while 72% had seen more patients in the past three months with illnesses related to poor-quality housing, air pollution and access to transport.

Continue reading...

Trump hits UK with 10% tariffs as he ignites global trade war

Posted on by

Britain gets off comparatively lightly but US president’s action could still cost billions in lost growth

Donald Trump has hit the UK with tariffs of 10% on exports to the US as he ignited a global trade war that could wipe billions off economic growth.

The US president accused other nations, including allies, of “looting, pillaging, raping and plundering” the US, as he announced tariffs on economic rivals including 20% on the EU and 34% on China as part of what he dubbed “liberation day”.

Continue reading...

‘No agenda’ in Guardian investigation of Noel Clarke, high court hears

Posted on by

Actor accuses newspaper of libel in articles about his alleged sexual misconduct

There was “no agenda” in the Guardian’s investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Noel Clarke, the high court has heard.

In her second day in the witness box, Lucy Osborne, an investigative correspondent at the Guardian, defended the publication’s reporting in the face of questioning from the former Doctor Who star’s barrister, Philip Williams.

Continue reading...

UK government tries to placate opponents of AI copyright bill

Posted on by

Economic impact assessment is one concession aiming to head off opposition from MPs, peers and creatives such as Paul McCartney and Tom Stoppard

The UK government is trying to placate peer and Labour backbencher concerns about copyright proposals by pledging to assess the economic impact of its plans.

Creative professionals including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Tom Stoppard and Kate Bush have strongly criticised ministers’ proposals to let artificial intelligence companies train their models on copyright-protected work without permission, unless the rights holder opts out.

Continue reading...

Starmer sails through PMQs as Badenoch fails to get out of the blocks again | John Crace

Posted on by

It’s almost as if KemiKaze herself believes Labour’s mantra that the Tories are the source of all hopelessness

There will come a moment when the Labour claim that the Tories are to blame for everything will no longer stick. People will start shaking their heads and reckon that Labour have something to answer for. But we’re not quite there yet. At least not at prime minister’s questions. For half an hour in the Commons every Wednesday the Conservatives remain the villains of the piece.

Partly it’s the size of the Labour majority. The sheer volume of half-witted Labour MPs who are happy to bounce up and down to ask Keir Starmer whether he agrees with them that the Tories left the country in a shocking mess and only the prime minister can save their constituents. The Lib Dems and the SNP are only slightly fiercer critics of the present government. They too hate the Tories more than anyone else.

Continue reading...

Dinosaur tracks uncovered at site of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s refuge

Posted on by

Jacobite leader was unknowingly ‘following the footprints’ of megalosaurs after escaping to the Isle of Skye in 1746

When Bonnie Prince Charlie fled the Scottish Highlands after defeat at the Battle of Culloden, his route may have crossed the fossilised footsteps of massive meat-eating dinosaurs, researchers say.

Newly discovered impressions at Prince Charles’s Point on the Isle of Skye, where the Young Pretender is said to have hunkered down in 1746, reveal that megalosaurs, the carnivorous ancestors of the T rex, and enormous plant-eating sauropods gathered at the site when it was a shallow freshwater lagoon.

Continue reading...

MPs’ attacks on judges a huge threat to the rule of law, says attorney general

Posted on by

Richard Hermer has responded to Robert Jenrick’s calls for a senior judge to be sacked over sentencing guidelines row

Political attacks on judges are “dangerous” and “a huge threat to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”, the attorney general has said in a direct rebuke to the shadow justice secretary.

Richard Hermer said politics was entering a “dangerous moment” where politicians were “attacking judges on a personal basis” on the floor of the House of Commons.

Continue reading...

Reeves defends Labour’s £40bn tax rise as businesses prepare for NICs hike

Posted on by

Chancellor says autumn budget enabled £25bn of extra investment into NHS and shorter waiting lists

Rachel Reeves has defended the £40bn in tax increases in autumn’s budget as businesses brace for their impact, saying NHS waiting lists would now be higher if she had not taken action.

Employers are set for a £25bn increase in national insurance contributions (NICs), which comes into force on 6 April, at the same time as consumers are being hit by a slew of increases in bills for everything from utilities to car tax.

Continue reading...

British activist in solitary confinement in India despite acquittal, family say

Posted on by

Brother of Jagtar Singh Johal claims he is being ‘mentally tortured’ through unwarranted detention

The British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, detained for seven years in an Indian jail, has been placed into solitary confinement and under 24-hour surveillance despite being acquitted of all terrorism charges against him by a Punjab court on 4 March, his family have claimed.

Johal is still facing the exact same charges in a parallel case in a clear example of double jeopardy, his brother Gurpreet said when giving testimony at Westminster to an all party committee on arbitrary detention. He said the Indian courts have not granted his brother bail, despite the prosecutor’s failure to produce any credible evidence or witnesses in the Punjab court.

Gurpreet said UK consular staff met his brother in jail on Tuesday and were told he had been put into solitary confinement with a 24-hour guard, adding no explanation had been given.

Continue reading...

Trump’s tariffs: how might Europe respond to unleashing of trade war?

Posted on by

Bloc’s options include retaliating with tariffs on US goods and services and forming closer ties with other countries

Donald Trump is getting ready to impose sweeping and immediate tariffs on all foreign goods, thereby unleashing a trade war and upending the multilateral trading system that the US helped to build after the second world war.

Here is how Europe might respond:

Continue reading...

Airlines warned Heathrow about power supply risks days before outage, MPs told

Posted on by

Concerns about cable theft raised with airport before substation fire but Heathrow chief defends handling of incident

Airlines warned Heathrow about risks to its power supply days before the airport was shut down by a substation fire, a Commons committee has been told.

Heathrow’s chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, apologised for the disruption, which affected more than 200,000 passengers on Friday 21 March, but defended the decision to close as he said staying open was potentially “disastrous”.

Continue reading...

Wednesday briefing: What the latest wave of tariffs mean for the US, UK, Europe – and you

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: The administration’s sweeping tariffs have left markets bracing for volatility – but what impact will they have on an unsteady global economy?

Good morning. According to Donald Trump, it’s “liberation day”: the advent of a new trade order in which Americans reap the benefit of massive tariffs on imports, and the rest of the world picks up the tab.

Unsurprisingly, the United States’ trading partners tend to take a very different view. And they are doing everything they can to avoid being passive targets for the White House’s carnivorous vision of American exceptionalism.

Israel-Gaza war | Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a major expansion of the military operation in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to the security zones of Israel. Follow the latest here.

Israel-Gaza war | Some of the bodies of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, killed by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave in Gaza, were found with their hands or legs tied and had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to two eyewitnesses. The accounts add to evidence pointing to a potentially serious war crime on 23 March.

UK news | More than 20 women have contacted police to say they fear they may have been attacked by the serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, with detectives fearing there may be even more victims to come. Zou, 28, was convicted last month of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2024.

US politics | Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has broken the record for longest speech ever by a lone senator by spending 25 hours and five minutes inveighing against Donald Trump in the chamber. Booker’s speech was intended to highlight the “grave and urgent” danger that Trump poses to democracy.

Cinema | Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors, has died at the age of 65. His daughter Mercedes told the New York Times that the cause of death was pneumonia.

Continue reading...

Stranger than fiction MI5 tales revealed in first National Archives collaboration

Posted on by

From Guy Burgess’s briefcase to microdots secreted in talc, an exhibition reveals remarkable items from the agency’s archives – and the extraordinary stories behind them

The agency that would become MI5, originally known as the Secret Service Bureau, employed just 17 staff in 1914; by the end of the first world war, the number working for Britain’s domestic counter-intelligence agency had swelled to 850, including a number of female administrators.

While valuable for managing the card index records, noted Edith Lomax, the controller of women staff in 1918, only women under the age of 30 should be recruited “on account of the very considerable strain that was thrown on [their] brains”.

Continue reading...

Last summer was second worst for common UK butterflies since 1976

Posted on by

More than half of Britain’s 59 native species are in long-term decline, UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme finds

Last summer was the fifth worst in nearly half a century for butterflies in Britain, according to the biggest scientific survey of insect populations in the world.

For the first time since scientific recording began in 1976, more than half of Britain’s 59 native species are in long-term decline.

Continue reading...

Disabled MPs speak of difficulties they face working in UK parliament

Posted on by

Committee hears about ‘insane’ lack of provisions and arcane, time-consuming procedures

MPs with disabilities have spoken about the challenges they face working in parliament, criticising the “insane” lack of provisions and arcane, time-consuming procedures.

Lucy Powell, the Commons leader, who also chairs its modernisation committee, said she would be “very in favour of” bringing in call lists for when MPs will speak, one of the adjustments called for by MPs in the committee. Such lists are used for ministerial questions but not for debates, beyond a period during Covid.

Continue reading...